CN113383532A

CN113383532A - System and method for collaborative maneuver planning

Info

Publication number: CN113383532A
Application number: CN202080012398.4A
Authority: CN
Inventors: P·扎恩
Original assignee: Bayerische Motoren Werke AG
Current assignee: Bayerische Motoren Werke AG
Priority date: 2019-02-06
Filing date: 2020-01-24
Publication date: 2021-09-10
Also published as: DE102019102990A1; US20220084402A1; WO2020160934A1

Abstract

A first aspect of the invention relates to a system for collaborative maneuver planning of an own vehicle with at least one other road user, wherein the system has: a self-determination device which is designed to determine at least one coordination intention and/or at least one movement region of the self-vehicle; a self-communication unit coupled to the self-determination device and designed to create a self-control coordination message based on the at least one determined coordination intention and/or the at least one determined movement region; wherein the self-communication unit has a vehicle interface, is designed to send a self-maneuver coordination message to at least one other road user, and is designed to receive a maneuver coordination message from at least one other road user; wherein the self-manipulation coordination message and the manipulation coordination message comprise at least one of the following message elements: a message recipient; collaborative willingness information; motion region information; and wherein the vehicle interface is designed such that it is capable of both sending and receiving each message element; the self-maneuver planning unit, which is coupled to the self-determination device and the self-communication unit, is designed to plan the driving maneuver of the self-vehicle by taking into account the received maneuver coordination message.

Description

System and method for collaborative maneuver planning

Technical Field

The invention relates to a system for collaborative maneuver planning of an own vehicle with at least one other road user, and a method for collaborative maneuver planning of an own vehicle with at least one other vehicle.

Background

Various assistance systems for supporting a driver and/or a vehicle in road traffic are known from the prior art. Since the driving tasks are performed automatically by the vehicle without manual intervention, on the one hand the burden on the driver of the vehicle can be reduced and, on the other hand, road traffic becomes safer.

However, it is clear that human drivers have skills that have not been or only insufficiently achieved by the systems available to date. For example, the ability to communicate and coordinate with road users has not been fully automated to take over by the auxiliary system. For example, the manner in which human drivers drive their vehicles (e.g., opening and closing gaps) may support or impede the driving maneuvers of other road users, which in turn may affect their driving behavior.

Accordingly, it is desirable to enable coordinated communication between vehicles networked with one another in order to communicate and coordinate their driving operations with one another. To achieve this, a fast information exchange between individual vehicles and from vehicle to infrastructure is required. However, it is problematic to create a communication mechanism that works across manufacturers to ensure a smooth exchange of such data. The particular method available requires an associated set of protocol messages. Each participant must send messages following method-specific rules. It is extremely difficult to agree on the most appropriate method and associated set of agreement messages.

Disclosure of Invention

It is an object of the present invention to provide a system and method for collaborative maneuver planning that at least partially overcomes the disadvantages of the prior art.

This object is achieved by the features of the independent claims. Advantageous embodiments are described in the dependent claims. It is noted that additional features of the claims depending on the independent claims may form an invention of their own and independent of a combination of all features of the independent claims, without the features of the independent claims, or in combination with only a subset of the features of the independent claims, as subject matter of independent claims, divisional applications or subsequent applications. This applies in the same way to the technical teaching described in the description which may form the invention independently of the features of the independent claims.

A first aspect of the invention relates to a system for collaborative maneuver planning of an own vehicle with at least one other road user, wherein the system has:

a self-determination device designed to determine at least one coordination intention and/or at least one movement region of the self-vehicle;

a self-communication unit coupled to the self-determination device and designed to create a self-control coordination message on the basis of the at least one determined coordination intention and/or the at least one determined movement range;

wherein the self-communication unit has a vehicle interface which is designed to transmit a self-maneuver coordination message to at least one other road user and which is designed to receive a maneuver coordination message from at least one other road user;

wherein the self-manipulation coordination message and the manipulation coordination message comprise at least one of the following message elements: a message recipient; collaborative willingness information; motion region information; and is

Wherein the vehicle interface is designed such that it is capable of both sending and receiving each message element;

an own maneuver planning unit coupled to the own evaluation device and the own communication unit and designed to plan the driving maneuver of the own vehicle by taking into account the received maneuver coordination message.

A second aspect of the invention relates to a method for collaborative maneuver planning of an own vehicle with at least one other road user, wherein the method comprises:

determining at least one coordination intention and/or at least one movement area of the vehicle;

creating a self-steering coordination message based on at least one sought synergy wisdom and/or at least one sought motion region;

sending and/or receiving self-maneuver coordination messages to and/or from at least one other road user via the vehicle interface; wherein the self-manipulation coordination message and the manipulation coordination message comprise at least one of the following message elements: a message recipient; collaborative willingness information; motion region information; and is

planning the driving maneuver of the own vehicle by taking into account the received maneuver coordination message.

In the sense of this document, a road user can be understood as a unit participating in the traffic system. Such a unit may be a vehicle, in particular a driver-controlled vehicle or an autonomous vehicle. Alternatively, such a unit may be a bicycle rider, a pedestrian, an animal, a machine, or the like.

The road user is advantageously a vehicle different from the own vehicle.

Within the meaning of this document, a vehicle is to be understood as all vehicle types in which persons and/or goods can be moved. Possible examples of vehicles are: motor vehicles, trucks, agricultural vehicles, buses, cabs, cable cars, elevator cabs, rail vehicles, water vehicles (e.g., ships, boats, submarines, diving bells, hovercraft, hydrofoil craft), aircraft (airplanes, helicopters, wing-ground effect machines, airships, balloons).

The vehicle is preferably a motor vehicle. A motor vehicle in this sense is a land vehicle that moves by mechanical power and is not bound to a track. Motor vehicles in this sense include automobiles, motorcycles, and tractors.

The system for collaborative maneuver planning described herein is illustrated with respect to a vehicle, but is not necessarily a part of the vehicle. Thus, the system or parts of the system for collaborative maneuver planning may be arranged outside the vehicle. That is, there may also be embodiments of the system for collaborative maneuver planning in which one or more portions of the system are arranged inside the vehicle and/or portions of the system are arranged outside the vehicle.

The own vehicle described herein or other road user described herein is preferably a vehicle equipped with a system and/or vehicle function to implement an autonomous driving mode. The term "autonomous driving mode" refers to a partially autonomous driving mode, a highly autonomous driving mode, or a fully automatic or autonomous driving mode. The autopilot mode corresponds here to the degree of automation defined by the federal highway institute (BASt) (see the BASt publication "Forschung kompakt", version 11/2012). In partial automatic driving (TAF), the system takes over longitudinal guidance and lateral guidance for a certain period of time and/or in certain situations, wherein the driver must continuously monitor the system. In highly automated driving (HAF), the system takes over longitudinal and lateral guidance for a period of time without the driver continuously monitoring the system; the driver must however be able to take over the vehicle control within a certain time. In fully automatic driving (VAF), the system can drive automatically in all cases for a particular application scenario; the driver is no longer required for this application scenario. The above-mentioned degree of automation according to the definition of BASt corresponds to SAE levels 2 to 4 of the SAE J3016 standard (SAE-society of automotive Engineers). For example, high automatic steering (HAF) according to BASt corresponds to level 3 of the SAE J3016 standard. In addition, SAE level 5 is also specified in SAE J3016 as the highest degree of automation, which is not included in the definition of BASt. SAE level 5 corresponds to unmanned driving, where the system can automatically handle all cases like a human driver during the entire trip; the driver is usually no longer required. In this document, the degree of automation of "fully automatic" is intended to include the case of unmanned driving.

In other words, the road user or own vehicle described herein may be a manually controlled vehicle, i.e. a vehicle in manual driving mode, or may be an automatically controlled vehicle, i.e. a vehicle in automatic driving mode.

It is irrelevant whether the vehicle driving is carried out automatically or more or less in a manually intervened manner (manually or partly automatically) for coordinating the driving manoeuvres and the corresponding movements of the road user or of the vehicle. The driver can take over at any time (with or without a corresponding request). This may result in a sudden change in the intent of the road user (e.g., driver and/or vehicle).

The current intention of the own vehicle, and possibly an intention of a sudden change, are transmitted to other road users, for example other vehicles in the vicinity of the own vehicle, by means of the own maneuver coordination message.

No rule set on the sender side is required to ensure temporal consistency of interoperability. Alternatively, it may be decided (e.g., to select a specific coordination method) to cause the transmitted steering coordination message to comply with the additional consistency condition. However, the only standard for legal assessment of the communication and interaction of road users or vehicles is the STVO.

A coupling (for example a coupling of the own acquisition device or the own communication unit to the own manipulation planning unit) is a communication link in the context of this document. The communication connection may be wireless (e.g., bluetooth, WLAN, cellular network) or wired (e.g., by means of a USB interface, data line, etc.).

The system or method for collaborative maneuver planning described herein implements a universal, and adaptive communication method for coordinating collaborative vehicle maneuvers. The system or method enables coordination of steering coordination using different rule sets and decision grounds, and uses different methods for steering coordination of road users or vehicles. The agreement can be achieved independently of the method by sending or receiving the maneuver coordination message, so that a coordination of the road users or vehicles can be achieved even if different methods are used.

The own vehicle seeks at least one cooperative will. In other words, the own vehicle communicates a cooperative or non-cooperative signal to the outside, i.e., to other vehicles. The co-willingness is determined according to the particular method used by the respective road user or by the respective vehicle (self-vehicle or other vehicle). However, the self-steering coordination message containing the willingness-to-collaborate information, for example, may be understood and interpreted by each participating road user. The manipulation planning or the coordination of the coordination is supported only by the provided information, without a certain method for manipulating the planning or the coordination of the manipulation having to be defined or preferred for this purpose. Coexistence of different methods for maneuver coordination and interoperability between these different methods is achieved by appropriate exchange of maneuver coordination messages between road users and/or vehicles.

The maneuver coordination message sent by the own vehicle or other road users, in particular other vehicles, is defined such that: the information obtained about the situation of the sender road user or vehicle supports different methods for maneuver planning or maneuver coordination in the receiver road user or vehicle. Each road user, in particular each vehicle or the own vehicle, autonomously makes decisions about the maneuver planning or the maneuver coordination. The coordinated current or intermediate result is transmitted to the other road users independently of the method, for example by means of a simple group allocation.

The self-steering coordination message of the self-vehicle or the steering coordination message of the other road users may have various optional message elements. The sender decides which message elements to include. In other words, each sender will decide with which elements to populate the steering coordination message.

Preferably, specific mandatory message elements may be specified for the self-steering coordination message or the steering coordination message. Such mandatory message elements may be, for example, time stamps or standardized message elements.

According to one embodiment, which can be combined with one or more of the embodiments described herein, the vehicle interface is further designed to send the self-steering coordination message in an event-driven manner, or to send the self-steering coordination message cyclically at a repetition rate that can be determined at will.

The event-driven self-steering coordination message may be repeated at any frequency depending on the occurrence of the event. The event-driven self-steering coordination message may also be, for example, a repeat or update for improving transmission security.

Preferably, the vehicle interface can both send and receive each message element. That is, the vehicle interface is capable of receiving and processing maneuver coordination messages independent of the particular method used by the road user for maneuver coordination.

The self-steering coordination message may be populated with information identifying a particular number of other road users, particularly other vehicles, based on their possible or desired coordinated or uncoordinated roles from the sender's own vehicle's own perspective.

According to one embodiment, which may be combined with one or more of the embodiments described herein, the message recipient is an identifiable single road user and/or a collection of road users that can be identified by means of a specific attribute.

For example, the pseudonymous ID from the V2V protocol (vehicle protocol) can be used to identify a single road user, in particular a single vehicle. For example, the identification number of a mobile terminal carried by a pedestrian can be used to identify the pedestrian.

The specific properties from which the set of road users can be identified include, for example, spatial regions. Examples of such spatial regions are ETSI geographical broadcasts or identifications related to its own position and/or road, such as longitudinal distance or lateral coordinates including lane assignment. For example, in the case of entering an acceleration lane, a set of all vehicles with specific properties (e.g. within a certain distance range) behind the own vehicle on the right lane of the main road may be identified.

The classification of other road users can be carried out by populating the maneuver coordination message with information assigned to the other road users by the own vehicle. This classification is expressed in co-willingness information.

According to one embodiment, which may be combined with one or more of the embodiments described herein, the willingness-to-synergize information includes at least one of:

requirement information indicating a collaborative requirement;

permission information indicating that collaboration is permitted;

offer information indicating an offer for collaboration;

rejection information indicating rejection of collaboration.

The requirement information describes requests of road users, in particular vehicles, for coordination with other road users.

The permission information describes permission for collaboration with other road users.

The offer information describes that road users, in particular vehicle offers cooperate with other road users. In this case, there is no permission for cooperation with other road users. If, for example, a collaboration is proposed by the self-vehicle to the road user, but collaboration has not yet been allowed, the self-steering coordination message or the collaboration intention information of the self-steering coordination message contains the proposal information. Whether or not to make such an offer is determined by the own vehicle.

Such offer information is beneficial while there is no need for road users yet, but a lack of cooperation is identified. If the requirements of a road user are subsequently received, the road user can be immediately allocated to the group of road users that allow collaboration.

The rejection information describes a situation in which road users, in particular vehicles (e.g. own vehicles), do not propose and/or do not allow collaboration. An example of this is that road users, in particular vehicles, insist on priority driving.

The road users can be assigned to specific groups by means of the collaborative wish information, for example a "willing to allow road users" group or a "proposing road users" group.

The self-steering coordination message and/or the steering coordination message advantageously always comprise at least one piece of willingness-to-synergize information.

The group allocation of the surrounding road users described in this way ensures a possibility of cooperation with other road users who can send the maneuver coordination message.

Interoperable steering coordination can be achieved by communication of the assigned group affiliations of other road users from the perspective of the own vehicle.

An exemplary sequence of rules for such steering coordination may be as follows:

a road user a on the on-ramp of the expressway includes the road user a who desires its cooperation into the "road user on demand" group.

The road users B on the motorways include the road users entering into the group of "road users willing to allow". The road user B will then enable the oncoming road user to merge by maintaining a sufficient distance and/or changing lanes.

If A has reached the target lane, A removes road user B from the "road users in need" group and B removes road user A from the "road users willing to allow" group.

The own vehicle may communicate an active proposal of collaboration, acceptance or rejection of collaboration by allocating road users into groups accordingly. The vehicle's reaction to such allocation may be followed by normal traffic behavior. The violations of the rules will be communicated, potentially logged, or transparent as an inconsistency between the prior communication and the actual behaviour.

According to one embodiment, which may be combined with one or more of the embodiments described herein, the motion region information comprises at least one of:

reference region information indicating the planned motion region;

demand region information indicating a demand for a motion region;

allowable area information indicating an allowable area of motion.

The motion region can be described by a so-called path (location line) or trajectory (path with additional time information). The movement region can also be described in a planar manner by at least one path and/or at least one trajectory. For example, two tracks may represent the left and right edges of a motion region.

The reference area information describes a planned motion area (reference motion area). In other words, the reference area information describes the currently prescribed movement area of the road user. There is preferably already a synergy for the planned movement region.

The requirement region information describes requirements of the motion region. The requirement region information describes a movement region desired by the road user, wherein a corresponding coordination of the other road users is assumed.

The allowable area information describes the allowance of the motion area. In other words, the allowable area information describes a motion area provided by the road user to support collaboration with other road users.

According to a further embodiment, the required area information and/or the allowed area information are assigned a qualification metric value. The eligibility metric value indicates a degree of benefit or a degree of disadvantage of the required area information and/or the allowed area information with respect to the reference area information. In other words, the degree to which a particular region is advantageous or disadvantageous compared to a reference region is evaluated by means of a qualification metric value.

In other words, the eligibility metric value gives a metric value indicating the relative superiority of the demand of the motion area compared to the planned motion area (reference motion area). Furthermore, the eligibility metric value may give a metric value indicating the relative disadvantage of the allowable compared to the planned motion region (reference motion region) for the motion region.

For example, the eligibility metric value may be a value in the range of-1 (maximally rejected, e.g., hard braking or accident hazard) or 1 (maximally preferred, e.g., traveling at a desired travel speed without adversely affecting safety, comfort, travel time).

According to one embodiment, which may be combined with one or more of the embodiments described herein, the sending of the self-steering coordination message and the receiving of the steering coordination message are independent of the particular method used for steering coordination.

According to one embodiment, which may be combined with one or more of the embodiments described herein, the own vehicle uses a first method for maneuver coordination and the at least one other road user uses a second method for maneuver coordination different from the first method, wherein the vehicle interface is compatible not only with the first method for maneuver coordination but also with the second method.

By sending differently populated (own) maneuver coordination messages at different points in time, the maneuver coordination between road users can be decided on their own by the individual road users without hindering interoperability between road users due to this variability. The interpretation of the received (own) steering coordination message is likewise determined at the discretion of the individual road user.

Based on the proposed (own) steering coordination message exchange, different methods for making collaborative decisions can be implemented.

After a collaborative decision is made by a road user (e.g. by the own vehicle), the result of the collaborative coordination or an intermediate result is communicated to the surrounding road users independently of the method by a simple group assignment.

According to another embodiment, a vehicle is equipped with a system for vehicle co-maneuver planning as described above. In other words, the system for vehicle co-maneuver planning is an integral part of the vehicle.

The statements made with regard to the system according to the invention for collaborative maneuver planning of a self-vehicle with at least one other road user according to the first aspect of the invention also apply in a corresponding manner to the method according to the second aspect of the invention for collaborative maneuver planning of a self-vehicle with at least one other road user, and vice versa; advantageous embodiments of the method according to the invention correspond with the described advantageous embodiments of the system according to the invention. Advantageous embodiments of the method according to the invention which are not explicitly described here correspond to the described advantageous embodiments of the system according to the invention.

Further advantages, features and details of the invention emerge from the following description of a preferred embodiment and from the drawings. The features and feature combinations mentioned above in the description and the features and feature combinations mentioned below in the description of the figures and/or shown in the figures individually can be used not only in the respectively given combination but also in other combinations or individually without departing from the scope of the invention.

Drawings

The invention is explained below on the basis of embodiments with the aid of the figures.

Fig. 1 schematically shows a system for collaborative maneuver planning for an own vehicle according to one embodiment.

Fig. 2 schematically illustrates a method for collaborative maneuver planning for an own vehicle according to one embodiment.

Detailed Description

Fig. 1 shows a schematic illustration of a system 1 for collaborative maneuver planning of an own vehicle with at least one other road user. The system has its own acquisition device 2. The own determination device 2 determines at least one coordination intention and/or at least one movement region of the own vehicle.

The self-determination device 2 is coupled to the self-communication unit 3. The own communication unit 3 creates the own manipulation coordination message 32 on the basis of at least one sought coordination intention and/or at least one sought movement area.

The self communication unit 3 has a vehicle interface 31. The vehicle interface 31 may send a self-maneuver coordination message 32 to at least one other road user and receive a maneuver coordination message 33 from at least one other road user. The self-manipulation coordination message 32 and the manipulation coordination message 33 include at least one of the following message elements: a message recipient; collaborative willingness information; and motion region information. The vehicle interface 31 is designed so that it can both send and receive each message element.

The self-control planning unit 4 is coupled to the self-determination device 2 and the self-communication unit 3. The own maneuver planning unit 4 plans the driving maneuver of the own vehicle by considering one or more received maneuver coordination messages.

Fig. 2 schematically shows a method for collaborative maneuver planning of an own vehicle with at least one other road user. The method comprises the following steps: determining 20 at least one coordination intention and/or at least one movement area of the own vehicle; creating 30 a self-manipulation coordination message 32 based on at least one sought synergy wisdom and/or at least one sought movement area; the method comprises the steps of transmitting 40 a self-maneuver coordination message 32 to at least one other road user and/or receiving 50 a maneuver coordination message 33 from at least one other road user, wherein the transmitting 40 and the receiving 50 take place via a vehicle interface 31.

Here, the self-manipulation coordination message 32 and the manipulation coordination message 33 include at least one of the following message elements: a message recipient; collaborative willingness information; motion region information.

The vehicle interface 31 is designed so that it can both send and receive each message element.

Furthermore, the method comprises planning 60 a driving maneuver of the own vehicle by taking into account the received maneuver coordination message 33.

Claims

1. A system (1) for collaborative maneuver planning of an own vehicle with at least one other road user, wherein the system has:

-own ascertaining means (2) designed to ascertain at least one coordination intention and/or at least one movement region of the own vehicle;

-a self-communication unit (3) coupled to the self-determination device (2), the self-communication unit being designed to create a self-steering coordination message (32) on the basis of at least one determined coordination intention and/or at least one determined movement region;

wherein the self-communication unit (3) has a vehicle interface (31) which is designed to send the self-maneuver coordination message (32) to at least one other road user and which is designed to receive the maneuver coordination message (33) from at least one other road user;

wherein the self-manipulation coordination message (32) and the manipulation coordination message (33) comprise at least one of the following message elements:

o message recipients;

o collaborative willingness information;

motion region information; and is

Wherein the vehicle interface (31) is designed such that it is capable of both sending and receiving each message element;

-an own maneuver planning unit (4) coupled with the own deriving device (2) and the own communication unit (3), the own maneuver planning unit being designed to plan a driving maneuver of the own vehicle by taking into account one or more received maneuver coordination messages (33).

2. The system (1) according to claim 1,

wherein the vehicle interface (31) is further designed to: the self-steering coordination message (32) is sent in an event-driven manner, or the self-steering coordination message (32) is sent cyclically at a repetition rate that can be determined at will.

3. The system (1) according to claim 1 or 2,

wherein the message recipients are identifiable individual road users and/or a collection of road users that can be identified by means of a specific attribute.

4. System (1) according to any one of the preceding claims,

wherein the willingness-to-synergize information includes at least one of:

requirement information indicating collaborative requirements;

o indicates permission information to permit collaboration;

proposal information indicating proposal synergy;

reject information indicating rejection of cooperation.

5. System (1) according to any one of the preceding claims,

wherein the motion region information comprises at least one of:

reference area information indicating a planned motion area;

demand area information indicating demand for a motion area;

o indicates allowable area information of the motion area.

6. The system (1) according to claim 5,

wherein a qualification metric value is assigned to required area information and/or allowed area information, the qualification metric value indicating a degree of benefit or a degree of disadvantage of the required area information and/or the allowed area information relative to the reference area information.

7. System (1) according to any one of the preceding claims,

wherein the sending of the self-maneuver coordination message (32) and the receiving of the maneuver coordination message (33) are independent of a particular method for maneuver coordination.

8. System (1) according to any one of the preceding claims,

wherein the own vehicle uses a first method for maneuver coordination and the at least one other road user uses a second method for maneuver coordination different from the first method,

wherein the vehicle interface (31) is compatible not only with the first method for maneuver coordination but also with the second method.

9. A vehicle having a system according to any one of claims 1 to 8.

10. A method for collaborative maneuver planning of an own vehicle with at least one other road user, wherein the method comprises:

-finding (20) at least one coordination intention and/or at least one movement area of the own vehicle;

-creating (30) a self-steering coordination message (32) based on at least one sought synergy wisdom and/or at least one sought movement area;

-sending (40) the self-maneuver coordination message (32) to at least one other road user and/or receiving (50) a maneuver coordination message (33) from at least one other road user through a vehicle interface (31); wherein the self-manipulation coordination message (32) and the manipulation coordination message (33) comprise at least one of the following message elements:

o message recipients;

o collaborative willingness information;

motion region information; and is

-planning (60) a driving maneuver of the own vehicle by taking into account the received maneuver coordination message (33).